Court Visit
AJ 101
Course #
Court Visit On November 29, 2011, I had the opportunity to go to Los Angles Superior Court and was able to sit and observe during a Preliminary Hearing. The case that I sat in was about a rape case in which a young girl of approximately twelve years old said that her grandfather, who was about sixty years old would sexually touch her and do certain things to her everytime she would go over to her grandparents house. The prosecutor asked the young girl a serious of questions such as “At one point were you scared to go back to your grandparent’s house because you knew what your grandfather would do to you.” I was dumbfounded when she answered “I was not scared, but I would get mad at my mom when I asked her if I can go over to my grandma’s house and she would say no.” As the trial continued the questions being asked by the prosecutor were getting deeper by the minute and the answers were very detailed. Some of the questions that were asked were as following: “was it only when you went to your grandparent’s house when your grandfather would sexually touch you, when your grandfather was rubbing against you were you standing up or laying down, did anybody ever walked in while he was doing things to you, did your grandfather ever worry someone might suspect anything.” The very first thing I noticed when I walked in and took my seat, was to the left of the holding stalls was a “notice” sign that read if anybody talked to any of the defendants, it was considered a misdemeanor. I had never been inside a courtroom before and what I had in mind was somewhat similar to the actual courtroom. Across Judge Richard M. Goul, there was a table for the prosecutors, at this rape case trial there was a total of three prosecutors. At a separate table sat the defendant and his public defendant. Next to the defendant sat the bailiff. The bailiff was the one who would bring in and out each of the defendants form the holding stalls when it was time for the judge to
Course #
Court Visit On November 29, 2011, I had the opportunity to go to Los Angles Superior Court and was able to sit and observe during a Preliminary Hearing. The case that I sat in was about a rape case in which a young girl of approximately twelve years old said that her grandfather, who was about sixty years old would sexually touch her and do certain things to her everytime she would go over to her grandparents house. The prosecutor asked the young girl a serious of questions such as “At one point were you scared to go back to your grandparent’s house because you knew what your grandfather would do to you.” I was dumbfounded when she answered “I was not scared, but I would get mad at my mom when I asked her if I can go over to my grandma’s house and she would say no.” As the trial continued the questions being asked by the prosecutor were getting deeper by the minute and the answers were very detailed. Some of the questions that were asked were as following: “was it only when you went to your grandparent’s house when your grandfather would sexually touch you, when your grandfather was rubbing against you were you standing up or laying down, did anybody ever walked in while he was doing things to you, did your grandfather ever worry someone might suspect anything.” The very first thing I noticed when I walked in and took my seat, was to the left of the holding stalls was a “notice” sign that read if anybody talked to any of the defendants, it was considered a misdemeanor. I had never been inside a courtroom before and what I had in mind was somewhat similar to the actual courtroom. Across Judge Richard M. Goul, there was a table for the prosecutors, at this rape case trial there was a total of three prosecutors. At a separate table sat the defendant and his public defendant. Next to the defendant sat the bailiff. The bailiff was the one who would bring in and out each of the defendants form the holding stalls when it was time for the judge to